Day 261 Writing Short Stories

Burrow

Underneath the snow and cold, underneath the roots and soil, underneath it all, a burrow exists. It is not a big one. It is not a cozy one. But it is warm, and it is a place of sleep. The winter doesn’t touch it. It lets the sleeper sleep until spring comes and the winds have turned warm. It is a perfect burrow of rest.

Coworker

He had had it. They had been working the dungeons together for the better part of a year now. He had taken the other goblin’s sulking, mean comments, task avoidance, and other tricks at face value and continued with his own job the best he could. But he drew the line with mothers.

The huge, muscular goblin was arranging his bombs as the dungeon had alerted yet another hero to come. He had cracked a joke about stuffing the hero with bombs, just as he had stuffed his mother last night.

He wailed at the other goblin, jumping at the huge bomb bearer and landing his fist into his thick skull. He bounced the goblin, screaming from the top of his lungs, “This is it. I’m telling the dungeon master to relocate me. I have had it with your mean, inconsiderate comments. My mother is a saint, and she is still married to my saintly father. Have the nerve to say such things, you oaf. Big-eared, human baby oaf!”

The other goblins gathered around them to watch the fight, cheering it on.

The huge goblin shook him off, throwing him onto the ground. The bomb bearer towered over him, his bombs raised.

He shielded his head, waiting for the explosion to come and be rebirthed at the green goo pool, where they always resurrected after a hero had blown by. But nothing happened. He looked up and saw the huge bomb bearer wiping tears from his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” the bomb bearer let out between sobs. “I just wanted to fit in, and you guys had such a good banter amongst you, and I’m just a dumb bomber with huge muscles. I knew you wouldn’t let me join if I asked nicely.” There came a loud wail.

He looked at the goblin, stunned, not knowing what to say. He glanced at the others, who shrugged.

He got to his feet and went to the bomb bearer. “There, there,” he patted the goblin’s back. “We let you throw the first bomb when the hero comes and scream our war cry.”

“You will?” came between sobs.

“Won’t we, lads?”

“Yeah.”

Dog

Sweet dog becomes annoying when the owner’s boyfriend comes around. I skipped this one.

The prompts are from the book A Year of Creative Writing Prompts.

I’m nervous. I have a lot going on this morning, and I wasn’t sure if I could write anything today, as my mind is elsewhere and I woke up several times during the night. I’m happy I managed to write, and managed to spin the second prompt into a fantasy one. It was about coworkers. Now, I will have to hurry so I can get things done before work.

Thank you for reading ❤ Have a serene day!